Bishop Joseph McFadden, former president at Cardinal O'Hara, remembered as 'simple person'

By PATTI MENGERS

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Harrisburg Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, who served as the first president of Cardinal O'Hara High School in Marple, was stricken early this morning while in Philadelphia for a Pennsylvania bishops' meeting and died. He would have been 66 on May 22.

The bishop awoke feeling ill at St. Christopher Parish rectory and was taken to Holy Redeemer Hospital in Philadelphia where he was pronounced dead at about 7:40 a.m., according to officials in the Diocese of Harrisburg and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The cause of his death has not yet been announced.

"He was just a 'people person', a student-centered person. He just loved being with people. He loved being with people," said William McCusker, who became principal at O'Hara when McFadden became president in 1993, then eight years later succeeded him as president, which he remains today.

On June 22, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named McFadden the 10th bishop of Harrisburg where he was installed at St. Patrick Cathedral on Aug. 18, 2010. The diocese is currently being governed by the College of Consultors who have eight days to elect an administrator until a new bishop is appointed by Pope Francis.

"Although he served as the Bishop of Harrisburg for only a short time, he effectively embraced the call of our former Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to use new forms of media to proclaim the message of the Gospel. His service in our state capital was instrumental in fostering the teachings of the Church in the public square," Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said on Thursday.

McCusker met McFadden before the bishop became a priest, when they both were teaching history at the old West Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia in the early 1970s. McCusker and his wife, Judy, considered McFadden one of their best friends. He had presided over the weddings of all five of their children and baptized all nine of their grandchildren.

"We were both there when he was ordained a priest and, yes, we were there when he was ordained a bishop and, yes, we were in Harrisburg when he was installed as bishop there," said McCusker.

Mrs. McCusker had just encountered McFadden on Wednesday when they both were shopping in Delaware. During their conversation the bishop inquired about the health of her husband who had recently been hospitalized with a foot infection.

"She updated him, gave him a big hug, then went on her way," said McCusker.

About two months ago, the McCuskers, who reside in Springfield, visited McFadden and stayed with him at the bishop's house in Harrisburg.

"We reminisced about the days at West Catholic when we both taught there, and we reminisced about when he first came to O'Hara," said McCusker.

McFadden, who was named a monsignor by Pope John Paul II in 1991, became O'Hara's president when the post was created in 1993 and served in that role until 2001 when he became pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Downingtown, Chester County. McFadden was named an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by former Philadelphia archbishop, Cardinal Justin Rigali, in 2004, and eventually went on to oversee Catholic education for the entire archdiocese.

When McFadden was elevated to bishop in 2004, his friends at O'Hara still fondly referred to him as "Monz."

"While the students respected his office, he had no problem with them calling him Monz. The joke is what to call him now. He is still Monz. He'll always be Monz to us," said O'Hara's Director of Institutional Advancement James Arnold in 2004 when he was O'Hara's development director.

The Haverford Township resident and his wife, Pat, who is now O'Hara's admissions director, were among hundreds who filled the cathedral to see Rigali ordain McFadden and the Rev. Msgr. Joseph R. Cistone, auxiliary bishops for the archdiocese. "When he was a deacon he used to be 'Deac.' He's not one for titles. He is just a regular guy," Arnold said in 2004.

Arnold had met McFadden when the bishop baptized Arnold's niece 32 years ago.

One of four children of Thomas and Ellen Griffin McFadden, the bishop was baptized at St. Rose of Lima Church and graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes grade school, both in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia. During his deaconate, McFadden was stationed at Our Lady of Fatima Church in the Secane section of Ridley Township. After he graduated summa cum laude with a Master of Divinity from St. Charles Seminary, Wynnewood, in 1981, the West Philadelphia native was ordained a priest and named parochial vicar of St. Laurence parish in the Highland Park section of Upper Darby.

McFadden left St. Laurence's after only a year to become administrative secretary to the now-late Cardinal John Krol, former archbishop of Philadelphia, a position he held until 1993 when he was named the first president of O'Hara.

"His job at O'Hara was to turn the place around and put it on the map, and he did this," Arnold said in 2004.

Arnold started working as O'Hara's development director part-time in 1998 and was hired full-time by McFadden in 1999.

During the former monsignor's administration, enrollment at the 49-year-old archdiocesan high school increased from 1,540 students to 2,000. McCusker said enrollment is now about 1,300.

"He was a very big advocate of Catholic education," said McCusker. "Whatever he did, he put the students first."

In 2004, staff members called McFadden a visionary and credited him with bringing the high school into the digital age including establishing O'Hara's website, COHS.com, and the "Laptops for Learning" program.

"He was really big in technological improvements in the school. He led us on the way to the wireless web here in the building," former O'Hara assistant principal Ed Allen said in 2004.

The bishop was known for finding ways of unifying the O'Hara community. One of the traditions he started was "O'Hara Family Christmas" held on a Sunday evening each December for anyone connected with the high school. The event, which features a tree-lighting ceremony and parade with Santa in front of the school, has been known to draw as many as 1,500 people.

"I had just invited him back to O'Hara Family Christmas to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary," McCusker said on Thursday.

During his years as president of O'Hara, McFadden also served as chaplain to the Central Delaware County Serra Club and, in 2001, was named Delaware County Man of the Year by the local chapter of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. He participated in O'Hara's annual faculty versus student basketball game and was invariably on the winning team.

McFadden himself was a 1965 graduate of Philadelphia's old St. Thomas More High School for Boys and, in 2010, blessed a room at O'Hara that now houses the closed high school's memorabilia.

At his Alma Mater, St. Joseph University in Philadelphia, McFadden had been on the freshman basketball team and earned a bachelor of science degree in political science in 1969. While attending St. Joe's, McFadden was freshman coach at St. Thomas More High School then junior varsity coach at West Catholic High School for Boys where he eventually taught, coached both basketball and baseball teams and was named athletics director in 1972.

Known for his very dry sense of humor, McFadden was also deeply spiritual and devoted to the teachings of St. Paul.

"You expect someone who prays all the time to be that way. Monz has the ability to be an 'Average Joe'," Arnold noted in 2004. "When an 'Average Joe' hits you with something very spiritual, it makes a lasting impression."

Funeral arrangements for the bishop are being handled by O'Leary Funeral Home in Springfield.